Govt withdraws plea against IHC’s mayor order

AAG says petition was filed without seeking his advice

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Monday withdrew from an intra-court appeal against the reinstatement of Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz.

The government had filed the appeal in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the court’s verdict from May 21, wherein the court had overturned a notification issued by the federal cabinet suspending Aziz for 90 days pending an inquiry into allegations of corruption and abuse of power in awarding an inter-city bus service contract.

After the government had filed the petition on Saturday, the IHC registrar had raised objections on it on Sunday, but despite that, had fixed it for hearing on Monday.

On Monday, Additional Attorney General (AAG) Tariq Khokar and the counsel for Aziz, Kashif Malik, appeared before a two-member divisional bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Ghulam Ahmed Qambrani.

During the hearing, the AAG informed the court that the petition was filed without taking his advice and that he did not wish to press the matter. At this, the court disposed of the case.

Discrepancies in order

Also on Monday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a detailed, written order on restoring the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) Mayor Aziz. The order points to the discrepancies in the government’s decision to suspend the mayor for three months.

The 13-page-long order, written by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, says that the federal government resorted to taking punitive action against the mayor even though the court had barred it from doing so.

The verdict further stated that the IHC had stopped the government from taking action against Aziz when the interior ministry issued a notification against him on January 7.

It further read that from the record of the local government commission (LGC) meeting, held on May 14, action against Aziz could not be proved.

Further, the court pointed out that only four of the seven members of the commission were present in the meeting when it was decided to send a reference to the federal government to suspend the mayor for three months. Members including MNA Raja Khurram Nawaz, Senators Mushahid Hussain Syed and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf were absent from the meeting.

The order further noted that even the attendance of LGC Chairman Ali Nawaz Awan remains unproven based on the meeting’s record.

Justice Kiyani said that no such action can be carried out against an accused without first listening to him.

Meanwhile, the court summoned para-wise comments from the respondents in the case filed by the federal government against Aziz's reinstatement. The order said that the circular of mayor’s suspension will remain ineffective until the verdict of the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2020.